Steven Saylor - Raiders of the Nile

Zenon loudly cleared his throat.

The king wrinkled his brow. “What is it, Zenon?”

The chamberlain shrugged and made a succession of gestures, each more fawning than the last. “Your Majesty always knows best, and as you say, there can be no possible pardon for such a scoundrel-unless, of course…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless the party seeking such a pardon could offer a substantial amount of gold-not an amount equal to that which has been irretrievably lost as a result of Artemon’s treachery, for that would be impossible-but enough to pay for the king’s … shall we say … upcoming travel expenses.”

“You mean the cost of all the bribes, bodyguards, and baggage-carriers to get me out of Alexandria before Brother Soter arrives?”

“To put it bluntly, Your Majesty, yes, that is precisely what I mean.”

The king sighed. “And what would you estimate that amount to be?”

“Roughly speaking…” The chamberlain named a sum so staggering that every person in the room drew a sharp breath.

The king gazed at the groveling figure at his feet. “Well, Tafhapy, what do you say? Can you cough up that much money in the next couple of days? And is the life of your long-lost bastard worth such a sum?”

All eyes turned to Tafhapy. He remained on all fours but raised his head. He chewed his lower lip. His bristling eyebrows moved this way and that, expressing a succession of conflicting emotions.

“Well, father?” said Axiothea. She stared at Tafhapy and crossed her arms. “What do you say?”

Artemon also moved to cross his arms, but the chains prevented him. He had to be content with duplicating his sister’s cold stare. “Yes … father. Am I worth such a ransom?”

Tafhapy swallowed hard. “Give me until sundown tomorrow, Your Majesty. I think I can raise it by then.”

Axiothea burst into tears. Artemon shivered like a man with a fever; his hard features softened and he looked at his father with an expression I could not hope to fathom. Tafhapy, too, began to weep, and so did Djet. Caught up in the flood of emotions, Bethesda and I held each other tightly. Even the dour chamberlain looked pleased with himself.

The king clapped his hands and called to an unseen attendant in the hallway. “Bring me something to eat, at once! Happy outcomes make me hungry.”

A short while later, the king and his chamberlain left the cell and rejoined the royal retinue in the hallway outside. The rest of us followed. Only Artemon was left behind, pending delivery of the ransom.

On the way out, we passed through the royal zoological gardens. Whoever laid out this part of the palace had decided that caged men and caged animals belonged in close proximity, though the animals had better living arrangements, with cleaner quarters and blue sky above them.

As we passed the various cages, pits, aviaries, and open-air enclosures, I gawked at a dazzling array of animals, birds, and reptiles such as I had never seen before. My nostrils were filled with unfamiliar smells and my ears with strange cries, squawks, and hissing noises.

Then I heard a familiar roar. From the far side of a large cage, the lion Cheelba came bounding toward me.

I cried out his name. I thrust my arm between the bars. Cheelba opened his mouth in a yawn, rubbed his face against my hand, and licked my fingers.

The king watched in wonder. “So it’s true, what I was told, that this lion is tame.”

“Mostly true, and mostly tame,” I said, thinking of Cheelba’s attack on Artemon. Through my tunic, I pressed my fingers to the tooth that hung from a chain around my neck. “Cheelba will defend a friend, if necessary.”

“What a splendid addition to the menagerie!” said the king. “Nothing adds zest to a royal procession like an exotic animal or a savage beast. In the next such parade, this lion can lead the way. He shall amaze the populace and bring credit to the House of Ptolemy! When might we use this lion next, Zenon? Perhaps for…”

The king caught himself and fell silent. Very likely, I thought, the next royal procession in Alexandria would be the one celebrating his brother’s accession to the throne.

The king swallowed hard. “Whoever may benefit from this beast, let it be recorded that it was I who added it to the royal menagerie. Write it down!”

One of the scribes in the retinue busily scraped a stylus against a wax tablet.

As we proceeded through the gardens, Djet fell back to walk beside Bethesda and me. He saw me frown, and asked what I was thinking.

“Just a small detail that nags at me. Something I meant to ask Artemon.”

“Tell me.”

I spoke more to myself than to Djet, since I had no reason to think he would know what I was talking about. “How was the wagon with the false sarcophagus substituted for the other? Artemon duped everyone into leaving the wagon unattended for a moment-I understand that part-but where did the other wagon come from? It can’t have been in that narrow passageway already, it can’t have come in from the side, and it was too big and heavy to come from above or below.…”

Djet laughed. “I can tell you!”

“You can?”

“Of course. I saw everything.”

“How?”

“I was hiding up in the rafters.”

“Ah, yes, I see. Go on, then.”

“It’s the oldest conjuring trick there is. As soon as you and Artemon and the others were out of sight, soldiers came out of a room that you had passed on your way in, pulling the second wagon. Very quickly they pulled the first wagon backward, out of the narrow passageway, and brought up the other wagon to take its place. Then they took the first wagon back to the room where they had been hiding. That seemed to be the end of it. But a while later, Artemon and his men came running back, and Artemon knew exactly where to look for the first wagon. Then there was a terrible fight, and all those soldiers were killed, and off Artemon and his men went with the first wagon. That’s when I climbed up on the roof. I saw the fight you had with Artemon, and then Cheelba saved you, and then more soldiers appeared, and then the Medusa sailed off, and then the king’s boat sailed up to the wharf-and you were on it! When I made my way home, I told the master you must be the king’s prisoner, and Axiothea said we must come look for you.”

I nodded. “By coming here today, you saved my life, Djet. In fact, you saved all of us in one way or another, even the king.”

“Yes, I know,” he said, as if it were quite a small thing. Then he ran ahead to walk beside Axiothea and his master.

“The rioters are burning something-again!” Berynus unfolded his long legs, stood up, and walked to the parapet. He shielded his eyes against the late-morning sunlight and squinted in the direction of Alexandria. “Look at that huge plume of smoke.”

I was on the rooftop terrace of the eunuchs’ new home in a tiny fishing village a few miles west of the capital. Kettel’s massive bulk was seated next to me on a long couch piled with pillows. Nearby, Bethesda sat cross-legged on a rug on the floor.

“When will the chaos stop?” I asked.

“Not until King Ptolemy makes his exit, preferably by ship, and Soter’s men arrive and start banging a few heads,” said Kettel. “In the interim, the lawlessness in the city is likely to get worse, not better. You made a wise choice, Gordianus, coming to stay here for a while. Are your quarters comfortable?”

The guest room I had been given was larger and far more elegantly furnished than my shabby apartment in the city-too elegant for my taste, actually, with all sorts of bric-a-brac strewn about-but the surroundings were irrelevant. Bethesda was back with me, and that was what mattered. We could have been sleeping in a tent or on the beach under a starry sky for all that I cared, as long as she was next to me.